Family reunions are precious occasions for most of us. These infrequent get-togethers offer the chance to bond with seldom-seen relatives, meet the newlyweds, cuddle the babies, and hug parents, grandparents, and brothers and sisters—some for the last time. My first family reunion replays in my mind like a favorite old movie. On a rainy night in August of 1952, I stepped off an airplane at New York's La Guardia Airport and into the arms of my mother. I can smell the wet, rainy air and see her face under the black umbrella as though it was yesterday. I was eleven at the time, and this was our first "meeting."

When I was an infant, my father became critically ill and my mother, with six young children, had no recourse but to go to work to support her family. My father never recovered, and my mother had to watch four of her children go to an orphanage until they were old enough to be alone during her long work hours. Only my eldest sister was old enough to look after herself when my mother took her first job as a secretary. My grandfather took me, the baby, to Texas temporarily to live with my mother's sister and her family.

I grew up with that warm and loving adoptive family, calling my aunt and uncle "mom" and "dad" and introducing my cousins to friends as my brothers and sisters. But I had known the truth from the beginning. Although we were separated by almost two thousand miles and the prohibitive cost of long-distance travel, my families stayed close. From the time I could read and write, my letters regularly went home to my Brooklyn family. I've saved the letters my mother wrote to me, and if you didn't know the circumstances, it would be strange to read her words admonishing me to "be good for your Mother and Dad and don't give them any trouble," and then signing off as "Your loving Mother." Even now, when I speak of my mother, my children ask me which mother I am talking about.

It wasn't until I was eighteen that I met my eldest brother on my second visit to New York. Because he was serving in the Navy during the Korean Conflict when I met my mother and siblings the first time, we had never met. That was another reunion I will never forget.

A family portrait hangs over the desk in my office. It is a constant reminder of another family reunion that took place in 1939, before I was born. My grandfather sits proudly in the middle of thirteen of his grandchildren. My mother wrote to my sister-cousin this treasured note about the reunion: "Never forget the wonderful times we've had. May we all get together again soon. We'll have fond memories of you 'til then." Sadly, it was the last time the extended family was together. My grandfather and nine of the thirteen grandchildren pictured have since passed away—some at very young ages. The message in an autograph book, the portrait that hangs in my office, and the stories shared and remembered of that time are all that remain of the 1939 reunion.

Life is short. It's up to us to see that family ties remain intact and that family stories are passed on to the next generations. But the busy lives and long distances make it nearly impossible to get the whole clan together. That's the downside of it. The upside is that technology has given us some distinct opportunities to stay close even when we are separated by distance. Just last month, MyFamily.com, a division of Ancestry.com, opened the door to a new kind of family reunion. It is a premier Web service that specifically targets families by providing them with their own free, secure Web sites. MyFamily.com offers e-mail; calendars; photo, audio, and video file storage; instant messaging; threaded message boards, and more. Nothing can compare to a family reunion. If you want to stay in touch with family members, near and far away, organize a family reunion, or join MyFamily.com—it's a great way to gather a family together. You'll never regret it.

Loretto Dennis Szucs
Executive Editor, Ancestry Magazine

You can set up your free MyFamily.com site at:
http://www.myfamily.com/